Raita Recipe

Famous Yogurt Dishes Are Easy To Make

Raita Recipe

Raita (pronounced RYE-tuh) is an Indian side dish used as a cool counterpoint to spicy dishes. It is a refreshing accompaniment to grilled meats that can be ported over to Western dishes (they don’t have to be spicy). Think of it as a sauce, a condiment, a spread or a dip.

Unlike Greek tzatziki, raita isn’t one basic recipe but a family of yogurt-based “salads”—some sweet, some savory. Raita is called a cold yogurt “salad” because it generally includes raw vegetables (cucumbers and tomatoes, for example), although there are sweet and savory versions:

Sweet Raita Recipes. There are coconut raitas, mango raitas, pineapple raitas, and many others, such as the grape raita in the photo above.

Serving raita with grilled meat, poultry and fish is a fresh departure from traditional condiments—and it’s a healthy sauce, especially when made with nonfat yogurt.

Create a raita with your own favorite ingredients. One of our favorites adds chopped apples and nuts for a “Waldorf salad raita.”

Cucumber Raita Ingredients

1 cup plain yogurt, drained

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded
and finely chopped

1 tomato, seeded and chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 teaspoons cumin seed*

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

*For best taste, toast cumin seed over high heat in a small pan, then crush and add to the mix. Using pre-ground cumin will do in a pinch, but, like using dried parsley, will deprive you of the burst of flavor of the freshly toasted and crushed seed.